Happy Birthday, Nicole Scherzinger!

Posted 06/29/2010 11:00:53 am
by Kyle Anderson.

If you happen to run into singer, dancer, Pussycat Dolls frontwoman and “Dancing With the Stars” champion Nicole Scherzinger today, be sure to give her a big hug and a cake with 32 candles on it, as it’s her birthday. The woman who began her career as a member of the made-for-TV girl group Eden’s Crush (the result of the short-lived WB program “Popstars”) has had quite a year, assaulting the entertainment world on several different fronts and managing to excel just about everywhere in the process.

Though her debut solo album has long been delayed, that hasn’t stopped Scherzinger from putting out killer music. The Pussycat Dolls last put out an album in 2008 (the excellent Doll Domination) and since then they have broken two huge singles: the English version of “Jai Ho! (You Are My Destiny)” (the Oscar- and Grammy-winning tune from “Slumdog Millionaire”) and the British club hit “Hush Hush; Hush Hush.” Most recently, she was heard as one of the singer’s on Slash‘s excellent solo album (on the pulsating track “Baby Can’t Drive”) and has a duet with Enrique Iglesias on his upcoming album Euphoria.

But television has been most kind to Scherzinger in the past year (appropriate, considering that’s how she caught her first big break). She was a judge (alongside Ben Folds and Boyz II Men’s Shawn Stockman) on the well-received a cappella competition “The Sing-Off” back in December 2009, and back in March she debuted on the latest season of “Dancing With the Stars.” Though she did face some stiff competition from a handful of fan favorites, she easily took the crown as the champion on the show.

Scherzinger’s next project will be in the cast of the rock musical “Rent,” which will have a production at the Hollywood Bowl in August (the cast also features Wayne Brady and Vanessa Hudgens). In honor of her birthday, check out the video for the Pussycat Dolls’ “Buttons,” a killer collaboration with Snoop Dogg that you won’t be able to get out of your head for the rest of the day. You’re welcome.